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Period: 450 to 1066
Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period
Had oral literature, and a lot of the prose was translations. -
980
Juliana (poem)
Author: Cynewulf -
Period: 1066 to 1500
Middle English Period
Much of the writings were religious in nature; however, from about 1350 onward, secular literature began to rise -
1390
The Canterbury Tales (written in verse, although some are in prose)
Author: Geoffrey Chaucer -
Period: 1500 to
The Renaissance
This period is often subdivided into four parts, including the Elizabethan Age, the Jacobean Age, the Caroline Age, and the Commonwealth Period. -
Period: 1558 to
The Elizabethan Age
The golden age of English drama -
The Passionate Shephered to his Love (poem)
Author: Christopher Marlowe -
Period: to
The Jacobean Age
Named for the reign of James I -
Hamlet
Author: Wiliam Shakespeare -
Period: to
The Caroline Age
Covers the reign of Charles I (“Carolus”) -
L'Allegro e Il Penseroso
Author: John Milton -
Period: to
The Commonwealth Period
So named for the period between the end of the English Civil War and the restoration of the Stuart monarchy -
Leviathan
Author: Thomas Hobbes -
Period: to
The Neoclassical Period
Subdivided into ages, including The Restoration, The Augustan Age, and The Age of Sensibility. -
Period: to
The Restoration
Sees some response to the puritanical age, especially in the theater. -
The Mourning Muse of Alexis
Author: William Congreve -
Period: to
The Augustan Age
-
The Rape of the Lock (Satiric poem)
Author: Alexander Pope -
Period: to
The Age of Sensibility
Ideas such as neoclassicism, a critical and literary mode, and the Enlightenment, a particular worldview shared by many intellectuals, were championed during this age. -
A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
Author: Edmund Burke -
Period: to
The Romantic Period
American literature has its own Romantic period, but typically when one speaks of Romanticism, one is referring to this great and diverse age of British literature, perhaps the most popular and well-known of all literary ages. -
Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems
Author: William Wordsworth -
Period: to
The Victorian Period
This period is named for the reign of Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne in 1837, and it lasts until her death in 1901. -
The Seraphim and Other Poems
Elizabeth Barrett -
Period: to
The Edwardian Period
This period is named for King Edward VII and covers the period between Victoria’s death and the outbreak of World War I. -
Nostromo (novel)
Author: Joseph Conrad -
Period: to
The Georgian Period
The themes and subject matter tended to be rural or pastoral in nature, treated delicately and traditionally rather than with passion or with experimentation. -
The Bull
Author: Ralph Hodgson -
Period: to
The Modern Period (1914 - ?)
Common features include bold experimentation with subject matter, style, and form, encompassing narrative, verse, and drama. -
Ulysses (novel)
Author: James Joyce -
Period: to
The Postmodern Period (1945 - ?)
The postmodern period begins about the time that World War II ended. -
En attendant Godot
Author: Samuel Beckett